The Boy on the Ice
by prunuspersica
Summary: The Man in the Moon notices something strange with a boy ice skating with his sister and decides to intervene.


The Man in the Moon was a short little man, with skin that reflected the moon's light and made him appear to give off a glowing light. He wore a pale yellow suit and a red bowtie. His head was round with a single hair sticking out in a gravity-defying curl and he had the face of a person who obviously smiled a lot.

But he wasn't smiling now.

He stood in front of his globe, frowning in confusion at what he saw. The globe was similar to the one at the North Pole in that it had lights representing children on Earth. Where North's globe, however, showed children who believed in the Guardians, the Man in the Moon's globe showed children who still had the joy and magic of childhood within them.

Most of the lights disappeared by the time a child was ten or so. Very few children grew into their teen years and still maintained that spark that the Man in the Moon and his Guardians worked so hard to protect.

It was one of these children that was the center of the Man in the Moon's attention today. It belonged to a boy who lived in a small village in a country that would one day be known as the United States. He was ice skating with his little sister, and his light was flickering.

The golden light shined in the Man in the Moon's face as he thought about what was happening. He had been watching the boy's light for several years now. Not only had it lasted over five years past the normal time a light faded, it was unusually bright. He didn't understand why now it would be flickering, hence his frown of confusion. Lights that were still lit past the ten-year mark often stayed lit for the lifespan of the person it represented.

The Man in the Moon turned away and used his moonbeams to pull up an image of what was happening to the boy. The view was projected on the moon's surface looking down from above. And finally, the Man in the Moon understood.

The boy stood with his skates off next to his sister. Under her, the ice was cracking, and the boy was afraid that his sister would fall through the ice and drown. It was this fear that was causing his light to flicker, as fear is often what overshadows the belief that everything will be okay.

The Man in the Moon could see, though, that everything was not going to be okay. As he watched, the boy moved and the ice cracked beneath him too. He reached for a long stick, and the Man in the Moon knew the boy was going to use it to move his sister off the thin ice. But it was clear that the movement would cause the ice beneath the boy to crack before he would get away.

_I must do something! _the Man in the Moon thought. _I can't let this happen._

He closed his eyes and focused on the scene presented before him, pulling forth his power. The Man in the Moon's power was vast but limited. He could only harness the power of the belief of the child he was focused on and change things that way. He concentrated on the belief emanating from the boy on the ice, the belief that he could rescue his sister.

For a moment, it seemed like the boy's belief would prove true. He used the stick he had to whip his sister around and onto thicker glass. She laughed, smiling at her brother. He smiled back, and the Man in the Moon sensed a strong feeling of relief coming from the boy…and something beyond that, clouded by fear, but he wasn't sure what it was. Then the ice beneath the boy shattered and he fell through to the freezing water below.

As the Man in the Moon tapped into the belief from the boy, using the moonbeams to make a stronger conduit, his mind connected with the boy's for a single second. He learned the boy's name – Jack – and felt something more. This boy had something very special inside of him, and the Man in the Moon didn't want to let that go.

_Jack, _he said to the boy's mind. _I can save you. I can preserve what's inside of you – what you believe in most – and give you a chance to spread it. But it comes with a price. You will be invisible to any who do not believe in you. I do not have the power to make people believe. And your memories of this life will be lost. It's your choice._

Jack's mind responded with a single emotion: one of relief that he could continue to practice what he had always thought the most important thing in the world, despite the fact that no one would be able to see him. His fear went away, and the Man in the Moon gained a stronger sense of what he had felt hidden under a layer of fear earlier.

_Yes,_ Jack said back to the Man in the Moon.

Still with his eyes closed, the Man in the Moon smiled and sent down a single moonbeam under the layer of ice to stay with Jack in his last moments. The Man in the Moon directed the moonbeam to concentrate on what Jack believed in most – a belief the Man in the Moon had identified as the power that having fun gives. To help Jack and to ease the pain that he knew Jack would feel, the Man in the Moon pulled on the magic in the boy's surroundings, giving him the power over winter weather.

The boy's heartbeat slowed in the cold water and the life faded from him, but the Man in the Moon knew that he could bring the boy back. He just had to hold onto the Jack's belief until that night, when his power would be at its greatest. With the help of the moonbeam preserving Jack and his belief in fun, the Man in the Moon would raise him in just a few hours.

The Man in the Moon opened his eyes and looked at the globe at the spot where Jack's light had been. It was now dark. But as he watched, a new light flickered into place. Unlike the others around it that shined golden, this one was pure white, like the light given off by the full moon on a clear night. The Man in the Moon smiled to himself as he took in what he had just accomplished. He even had a name for what he would christen the boy.

Jack Frost


End file.
